JP2005196757A - Method for providing document service - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print system adapted for providing an access to service for processing an electronic document a service provider provides in addition to provision of hard copy document service. <P>SOLUTION: A printer is suitable for providing web service to a user through a print request. The printer includes a gateway function for providing a rapid and safe access to the document service the document service provider provides. A service registration agency document, which can be a registration agency operated by a manufacturer of the printer, manages a list of the service providers. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for providing a document service, and more particularly to a method of using a printing system as an interface for providing a document service.

  In general, in the information technology field, a service provided by a service provider can be inquired or requested from a client computer (ie, a user) through a computer network on a server computer operating on a network such as the Internet. By requesting a service, the client obtains the result of the request directly or indirectly from the service provider. The results include, for example, converting input data or querying a database.

  One type of service is known as a web service. The server computer provides a web service to client computers on the network by exchanging information based on HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). Such information exchange includes messages (SOAP, UDDI, WSDL, etc.) in an extensible markup language (XML) format. In addition, the Universal Description Discovery and Integration (UDDI) protocol provides web service developers with the ability to search for a web service service registration authority (registry). Furthermore, existing development frameworks such as Java (registered trademark),. NET provides web service developers with the tools and software necessary to easily develop web services without considering the protocols and standards used to perform information exchange.

  These existing web service platforms are advantageous in that they can sell software and services using, for example, a pay-per-use transaction model. Although the transaction model for usage-based sales generally requires a high transaction rate to increase profitability, such a transaction model has other efficiencies, such as not necessarily requiring an alternative delivery channel. Profit from. That said, even in an environment that uses a pay-per-use sales transaction model, web service providers can benefit by adding a delivery channel that allows users to be aware of the existence of the service itself. .

  There is a document service as one category of web services particularly suitable for transaction models of usage-based sales. It includes services for document writing, translation, summarization, augmentation, conversion, syntactic analysis, and semantic analysis. For example, a document can be sent to a document service provider through an HTTP transfer wrapped in an XML envelope, including the document itself and user-specified options and service requests. The document can then be processed remotely and the results returned via a web interface and / or a mail gateway.

  Electronic printing systems are used to process and convert electronic documents into hard copy renderings, but are not adapted for use as a facility to access document services therefrom. That is, a physical printing system exists to perform one type of document service (ie, hardcopy rendering of an electronic document), but has a framework that provides access to additional document services. Absent. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a printing system adapted to provide access to services for processing electronic documents provided by service providers in addition to providing hard copy document services. It would be more suitable if the document service available in the printing system is a reliable service (for example, a service that can reliably provide the printing system user with the expected level of quality, reliability, and immediacy).

  According to the present invention, a first local area network to which a service registration authority is connected, a second local area network to which a service provider is connected, and a third local area in which a user operates a computer connected thereto. Provided are a method, a system, and a product for managing a document service provided by a service provider to a user who operates a computer in a wide area network connecting the networks.

  According to one aspect of the invention, a printer is connected to a third local area network (ie, a user network). In one embodiment, the printer incorporates a gateway function for connecting the wide area network and the third local area network. A printer (ie, referred to herein as a “gateway printer”) is registered with the service registration authority if it is a printer trusted by the service registration authority.

  According to another aspect of the invention, the printer queries the service registration authority for a document service provider registered with the service registration authority. The registered document service provider defines a list of available service providers including at least service providers on the second local area network. A list of available service providers, including at least service providers on the second local area network, is stored in the printer cache along with details of available services.

  According to yet another aspect of the present invention, when a printer receives a print request specifying a document to be printed, the available services stored in the printer's cache to supplement the print request to the user. A list of The printer receives a print request to be executed for a specified document supplemented with a service selected from the list of available services. The printer performs the supplemented print request by communicating with a service provider on the second local area network that provides the selected service.

  In accordance with further aspects of the present invention, methods, apparatus and products therefor are provided that facilitate reliable access to document services. The method includes enabling the printing system to communicate with a service registration authority. One or more service providers, each providing a complete document service, are registered with the service registration authority. When the service registration organization receives product registration from the printing system, a digital certificate including a corresponding public key is issued to the printing system accordingly. Upon receiving a request from an available service provider and authenticating that the request is from a printing system using the public key, a set of document services and each one or more service providers are published accordingly. Access to the key is granted. A digital certificate having a corresponding public key and a printing system public key are issued to each of one or a plurality of service providers. The printing system provides access to a set of document services using a public key of one or more service providers through a print request. The service provider authenticates the access using the printing system's public key.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a printing system that can provide access to a service for processing an electronic document provided by a service provider.

These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals.
A. Operating Environment FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an operating environment 100 for implementing the present invention. In the operating environment 100, a user 108 is a registered user (eg, a range of access rights) that is formally authenticated or partially authenticated to a local area network 104 (or referred to herein as a “user network” 104). User). User 108 may, for example, from user workstation 112 (or from mobile device 106 through network access point 110), file server 118 (a file server configured to store documents, such as electronic document 126, in the user's directory), Access to the multifunction device 114 (eg, scanner, facsimile, printer, bookbinding machine) or gateway printer 120 (directly or indirectly through the print server 118) may be provided. The print server is configured to spool print requests from a user 108 operating a mobile device 106, workstation 112, scanner 116, or the like to which one or more printers are directly or indirectly connected. The user network 104 can be, for example, a private network (private network) such as a corporate intranet or a home intranet, or a semi-private network such as an airport or a commercial facility.

The user network 104 is connected to a wide area network 144 such as the Internet, and one or more service registration organizations 138 and one or more service providers 150 are directly or indirectly connected to the wide area network. . In the operating environment 100, the user network 104 is connected to one or more registrar networks 134 and one or more service provider networks 146 by a wide area network 144. The wide area network 144 may be a public network with low security such as the Internet. More generally, the wide area network 144 as defined herein is any network used to connect the printer gateway 120 to the service registration authority 138 and the service provider 150. Wide area network 144 can bridge networks 104, 134 and 146 using dedicated wired, wireless or satellite communications. Access from the networks 134 and 146 to the wide area network 144 is performed through respective gateways 142 having a firewall function. In general, firewalls are used to restrict access from the wide area network 144 to the local area network and from the local area network to the wide area network 144. For such restricted access, the firewall is generally configured to allow access to the wide area network 144 from within the local area network using a standard protocol such as HTTP.
A. 1 Service Provider The operating environment 100 may include one or more service providers 150 that provide services for processing documents in electronic form. Document services that can be used by one or more service providers 150 include translation services, summarization services, format conversion (eg, optical character reading (OCR) services), and recommenders (recommended information). Electronic document services such as services, message services (eg, email, SMS and fax), archive services, document retrieval specific services, and enrichment services.

  One or more document service requests can be combined as a workflow using the document service request workflow described in US patent application Ser. No. 10 / 605,874. In general, the service provider 150 generates output in a generic file format. The file format may be an application and / or device dependent format or an independent format. That is, a document service request can be defined as a single process that takes an input file in a specific file format and generates an output file in a specific file format. Furthermore, such single document services can be combined or linked to define a set of services that apply to one input document. The user can start the process from one starting point, for example, via the print driver user interface, by specifying the ability to store, recover and / or configure a combined single document process sequence. Alternatively, it can be terminated at a plurality of end points.

  With respect to document service requests, more specifically, the translation service can translate a document from one language to another using a well-known machine translation system. The summarization service can summarize the contents of a document using one of a number of well-known methods. The recommender service can provide recommendation information using a recommender system such as Knowledge Pump developed by Xerox Corporation. The augmentation / shaping system can be provided by the meta-document management system described in US patent application Ser. No. 09 / 543,962. The document retrieval specific service can provide the services described in US patent application Ser. No. 10 / 605,630. The format conversion service is configured to convert a document from a first format to a second format. The first format can be, for example, a device or application independent format, and the second format can be a device or application dependent format.

  In one embodiment, service provider 150 registers service provider 150 as configured to be able to provide a digital certificate 154 that uniquely identifies service provider 150 and a list of one or more document services. The public key 148 of one or a plurality of service registration organizations 138 and the public key 152 of the registered printer are recorded in the memory. In one embodiment, the printer's public key 152 is provided by the service registration authority 138 and the service provider 150 trusts the identity of the gateway printer 120 that is to perform the requested document service (which is the gateway printer 120 itself). It is something that can be done. In other embodiments, when the service provider 150 receives a document service request from the gateway printer 120 (which may include the gateway printer's public key or hints), the service provider 150 may contact the service registration authority 138 with the gateway. Request (or authenticate) the public key 152 of the printer.

In an alternative embodiment, the service provider 150 can provide one or more physical document services, such as printing and binding. For example, the gateway printer 120 can be equipped with functions sufficient only for printing black and white documents, so that a color print request to the printer triggers the provision of document services by the service provider detailed below. You can also.
A. 2 Service Registration Authority The service registration authority 138 provides one or more gateway printers 120 and one or more service providers 150 with a central location for identifying and registering document services. In one embodiment, the service registration authority 138 records the digital certificate 136, the registered service provider public key 141, and the registered printer public key 140. In one embodiment, registration with each service registration authority 138 may be a type and / or brand of printer (or a more general physical document processing device such as a scanner, printer, bookbinding machine or two of these or It is limited to a multi-function machine incorporating three individual functions.

  The service registration authority 138 has two main registration functions. First, (a) product registration and (b) document service registration. Product registration relates to registration of the gateway printer 120. Document service registration relates to registration of the service provider 150. In one embodiment, once product registration is complete, the service registration authority 138 issues a digital certificate 122 to the gateway printer 120. In another embodiment, the digital certificate is built into the gateway printer hardware (in the case of a physical device) and is valid once product registration is complete. In yet another embodiment, the digital certificate is stored in a certificate registry of a host computer that operates as a virtual gateway printer (for example, as a virtual print driver with or without a gateway function) of the user network 104.

In one embodiment, the service registration authority 138 operates according to a service-oriented architecture (SOA) that defines client-server interactions for publishing and accessing document services, eg, via HTTP. The SOA specifies three main roles: requester (requester), registry, and provider roles. The role of the requester (eg, the role performed by the printer gateway 120) is the device that retrieves the document service (ie, “discovery” interaction) and makes a request to execute the document service (ie, “bind” interaction). is there. The registry role (eg, the role performed by the service registration authority 138) makes the service visible to potential requests (ie, “public” interactions). A provider role (eg, a role performed by service provider 150) publishes available services and receives and / or executes document service queries and requests.
A. 3. Gateway Printer In one embodiment of the present invention, the gateway printer 120 provides physical document services (scanning, printing, stapling, bookbinding, etc.). In an alternative embodiment, the gateway printer 120 is a virtual printer similar to the print server 118 and provides access to physical document services provided by other devices connected by communication. In either embodiment, gateway printer 120 has a memory or cache for storing digital certificate 122, service registration authority public key 124, and service provider information 128. The service provider information 128 includes characteristics of services provided by the service provider, costs associated with the use of the services provided, a website that provides a description of the services and / or costs (referred to herein as a “reference site”), The public key is included.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the gateway printer 120 includes a gateway function 130 that functions as a gateway between the user network 104 and the wide area network 144. The gateway printer 120 can be protected by a firewall 132. In an alternative embodiment, user network 104 may be connected to wide area network 144 without a firewall, or a firewall may be incorporated into gateway printer 120. In still other embodiments, the gateway printer 120 can be operated independently of the network gateway and / or firewall without providing the gateway function 130.

In either embodiment, gateway printer 120 provides access to document services made available by one or more service providers 150. Further, depending on the configuration and / or embodiment of the gateway printer 120, the gateway printer (a) manages document service requests to be executed by the service provider 150 for the specified document 126, or (b) service provider information. (C) Control bandwidth and use it indirectly or directly from the user network 104 over the wide area network 144. Avoid large demand fluctuations that affect the entire network access to services and / or content. By performing such centralized access and service control at the gateway printer 120, it is possible to provide a user of the user network 104 with quick and secure access to the document service provided by the service provider 150. There is.
A. 4 Public Key Infrastructure One embodiment of the operating environment 100 also includes a public key infrastructure (PKI). In PKI, digital certificates 122, 136, and 154 issued to the gateway printer 120, the service registration authority 138, and the service provider 150, respectively, are generally signed using a certificate authority 156 or a trusted third party. In one embodiment, the trusted third party is the service registration authority 138, thereby acting as an authentication authority for the gateway printer 120 and the service provider 150. The public key infrastructure allows two parties that have never had a prior relationship to dynamically establish secure communications with each other through the use of digital certificates.

  The digital certificate is, for example, ITU X.M. mirrored in RFC 2459 of IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). It may be understood that it is in the format described in the standard specification of 509 digital certificates. Alternatively, a digital certificate can be obtained from wapform. or WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) WTLS (Wireless Transport Layer Security) security layer format published on the Internet at org, or SPKI (Simple Public Key Infrastructure) certificate format. In addition to RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) public key encryption technology such as Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) or Elliptic Curve Cryptography, which are part of the US Digital Signature Standard (DSS), an alternative encryption scheme is used. Thus, it may be understood that the present invention can also be implemented.

  It will further be appreciated that one or more certificate authorities may be used in the operating environment 100. For example, the registration authority network 134 is provided with its own certification authority, and the certification authority issues a certificate to an authenticated user of the user network 104. Alternatively, some or all of the parties (eg, gateway printer 120 and service provider 150) may obtain a certificate from an approved public authentication service authority (eg, VeriSign®). Finally, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, service registrars, gateway printers and service providers authenticate the authenticity of an entity based on a key rather than who signed the digital certificate, It can also be used with any certificate, such as a certificate (ie, a party such as a service registration authority that owns the key pair acts as its own certificate authority), or a single public key that is not signed. it can.

  When the two parties (e.g., gateway printer 120 and service registration authority 138) exchange public keys and combine them with their respective private keys, both can see a match for the symmetric private key for a particular communication session ( Session key). The session key is used to encrypt and decrypt information sent by both parties over a less secure (untrusted) communication channel. If the session key is defined in this way, an eavesdropper cannot derive the session key by monitoring the communication channel between the two.

  One protocol for transmitting data securely over such a low-secure communication channel is the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol published in “The SSL Protocol Version 3.0” dated March 4, 1996. Defined in In an alternative embodiment, which is based on SSL, a secure session can also be established over the Internet using an IETF standard called Transport Layer Security (TLS). TLS is described in IETF RFC 2246. The SSL 3.0 and TLS protocols are supported by standard web browsers, but they are invoked as part of HTTP using the “https” extension.

  According to one aspect of the public key infrastructure, service registration authority 138, service provider 150, and gateway printer 120 are configured to generate a digital signature for selected content. A digital signature is a signature encryption digest of selected content using a given private key. Anyone who has a public key corresponding to a predetermined secret key can authenticate the authenticity of the signature encryption digest. According to another aspect of the public key infrastructure, the service registration authority 138, the service provider 150 and the gateway printer 120 are configured to define a session key for each communication session (secure session) established between each other. The

  In summary, the operating environment 100 in one embodiment is a web service utilizing the SSL protocol, which is often completed with digital certificates, digital signatures and certificates in XML documents used as a format to formalize message exchanges. Can be executed. In this way, secure transactions can be performed that can be authenticated using PKI and can be encrypted using protocols implemented with the https extension. That is, digital certificates can be used to ensure mutual authentication and non-repudiation. It is also possible to perform an encryption task using the SSL protocol using a digital certificate.

Further, it will be appreciated that the following advantages can be realized in the operating environment 100 by utilizing a public key infrastructure. In other words, (a) a confidential document can be processed by trusting the service provider. (B) A digital certificate (authenticated / validated digital certificate after purchase) can be pre-installed in the gateway printer, whereby a service registration authority related to the entity that pre-installed the digital certificate is Once the digital certificate is activated (validated) (valid when the gateway printer can communicate with the document service provider and / or service registration authority by signing the message), the certificate , So that service requesters can be more fully identified, service requests can be tracked, and service billing issues can be resolved. (C) The subset of services available to the service provider can be limited by the functions available in the printer or by the type or mark of the printer (ie, trademark, service mark, etc.). (D) The service registration authority can restrict access to a subset of available service providers according to the functions available on the gateway printer. (E) The service provider can be assured that a document service request is issued from a printer of a certain type or mark.
B. Method of Operation FIG. 2 is a flowchart of operations executed by the gateway printer 120 shown in FIG. 1 in one embodiment when executing a document service print request. At 208, the gateway printer 120 and service provider 150 need to be registered with the service registration authority 138 before a client device such as the user workstation 112 (or user mobile device 106) initiates a document service print request. Registration of the gateway printer 120 with the service registration authority 138 is performed at 202, so that the gateway printer 120 records the public key of the service registration authority in the memory 128 and the service registration authority 138 stores the public key of the gateway printer in the memory 140. Record. Registration of the service provider 150 with the service registration authority 138 is performed at 204, and as a result, the service provider 150 records the public key of the service registration authority in the memory 148, and the service registration authority stores the public key of the service provider in the memory 141. Record.

  When the registration in 202 and 204 is completed, the gateway printer 120 inquires of the registered service to the service registration organization in 206. The request at 206 may be for all service providers provided by a registered service provider or for a limited category of services. When the document service search request at 206 is completed, the gateway printer 120 records the public key of the service provider 150 (including other registered service providers) in the memory 128. The gateway printer 120 directly receives other service provider information recorded in the memory 128 (for example, characteristics and specifications of the provided document service, costs related to the document service request or a site to be referred to) directly from the service registration authority 138 or indirectly. Alternatively, it can be obtained from the service provider 150. Following the initial inquiry at 206, the gateway printer 120 periodically checks with the service registration authority 138 for updates of existing document services and / or service providers, or whether there are newly available document services and / or service providers. Can be inquired.

  Registration of services available to the service provider 150 at 204 can be initiated from the service registration authority 138 or the service provider 150. In one embodiment 204, the service provider 150 publishes available document services to the service registration authority 138 using a standardized service language known as UDDI. The interaction (interaction) between the service provider 150 and the service registration authority 138 at 204 is performed independently of the gateway printer 120 (or client). The interaction between the gateway printer 120 and the service registration authority 138 to identify the services available at 206 can also be performed using a UDDI request (request) and used by the service provider for that request. Responds with a list of possible methods and parameters necessary for the gateway printer (or client) to send a request to the service provider. The operations performed at 206 comprise a negotiation phase for performing a bind interaction, in which a gateway printer (ie, a client for service) directly or indirectly through service registration authority 138 to service provider 150. Queries how to communicate service requests (done at 212 and 218) and their details. For example, the detailed information includes a message method and parameter specifications.

  In one embodiment, the gateway printer 120 registers only with a service registration authority 138 associated with the manufacturer of the gateway printer 120, thereby providing, distributing, or recommending, for example, to sell the gateway printer. To be able to. Alternatively, the gateway printer 120 can repeat the operations performed at 202 and 206 on any service registration authority 138 (which is not necessarily related to the gateway printer). Similarly, depending on the relationship between the service provider 150 and the service registration authority 138, the service provider 150 can register the available document services with one or more service registration authorities.

At 208, a document service print request in one embodiment is sent by a user (eg, workstation 112, mobile device 106, scanner 116 (eg, a “scan-to-print” scanner), or client device such as MFP 114). Triggered when an electronic document (originally in electronic format or scanned from a hardcopy document) is selected and requested to print the electronic document using a normal print client. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a user interface that appears when starting a document service for a document selected on the workstation 112. More specifically, the graphical user interface 300 shown in FIG. 3 is for accessing 302 a document service available on the gateway printer 120. In one embodiment, the graphical user interface (GUI) 300 is a print driver GUI for a gateway printer. However, unlike conventional GUIs, the GUI 300 does not become immediately available, but allows access to services provided by the printer indirectly or directly. This feature allows the GUI 300 to allow the user to search for desired document services provided by one or more service providers and / or arrange the processing order. (Possible with 308 and 310 in GUI300)
The user specifies one or more series of document services from the document service directory 304 using, for example, a document service request procedure described in US patent application Ser. No. 10 / 605,874. One or more of the services can be a printing service. For example, the series of document services specified in FIG. 3 includes printing after translation. Alternatively, a series of document services may specify, for example, simply translating or printing and then translating or printing, translating and then printing again. The series of document services may include services provided by one or more service providers 150 in addition to services provided by the gateway printer. For example, translations can be provided by one service provider and format conversions can be provided by other service providers.

  Prior to selecting a service from the directory 304 in the user interface 300 shown in FIG. 3, the user performs a service description request at 306 to provide additional information (eg, cost, input format, output format, etc.) regarding the selected document service. Can be requested. Alternatively, the user can search for additional services or series of services at 308 by providing hints at 310. Regardless of which document service request is initiated by the user, an inquiry is sent to the gateway printer 120 at 210. If the desired information is not stored in the memory 128 of the gateway printer 120, the gateway printer 120 forwards the request to the service provider 150 (running at 213) that provides the information at 212.

  In one embodiment, service requests performed at 210 and 212 are made simultaneously. That is, the service provider 150 directly interacts with the user workstation 112 through the printer driver interface 300 (or a client dedicated to the service provider) shown in FIG. The unknown point specified by the provider is corrected so that the document service request can be processed in a favorable manner. Information exchange including “detail request” can also follow a protocol specific to each XML message service.

  Once a document service request is specified at 208 and any service description request is executed at 210, the user initiates a document service request at 214. In addition, the user 314 in the user interface 300 should determine whether or not the gateway printer 120 should deliver the result after completing the user-specified document service request at 220 (eg, to a file server). Save results and / or send results by e-mail, mail, fax, etc.). In 216, the gateway printer executes a designated document service print request for the selected document. This may include performing one or more document service requests on the selected document at the service provider 150 (or additional service provider).

  In one embodiment, the gateway printer 120 communicates at 218 a document service request in the form of a print request, which is executed by the service provider at 219. In this embodiment, when a document service print request is started in 214, a print-waiting document is generated like a conventional print driver. The document to be printed can be defined using a conventional page description language (PDL) such as Postscript, and the format (form) of the original document is thereby saved. The service provider 150 receives a document in a print waiting format from the gateway printer and outputs it in a corresponding or similar format.

  More specifically, user parameters relating to the document service defined in the window 302 of FIG. 3 can be incorporated as parameters and options in a print-ready document defined using PDL. In general, PDL is extensible and supports the addition of unique parameters that can only be read by certain types of devices and services. The parameters can also be defined to describe, for example, a translation language that has been ignored by printers that were not conventionally configured to perform the service.

  Once the gateway printer 120 receives a document service request that has completed execution for a specified document, the gateway printer completes any print request and / or supplemental document service, such as any archiving or distribution service, at 220. The print request can be an initial format (ie, a format before the document service request is made), a final format (ie, a format after the document service request is executed), or an intermediate format (ie, a format in the middle of the document service request). Can be used.

  In one embodiment of 216, the gateway printer 120 uses a well-known PDL-format print-waiting file that includes document content and specified service options (ie, document service requests). In this embodiment, when the gateway printer 120 receives the file to be printed, it extracts an option for the document service request from the PDL file and creates an XML message. The PDL file is attached for each document service request designated by the user. When the PDL file received by the gateway printer is transmitted, each service provider checks the options specified by the gateway printer in the XML message.

  In other embodiments, print output to the gateway printer 120 is through the print server 118 so that centralized management and invoicing can be performed for all print jobs. In one embodiment, digital certificates are used to allow gateway printer 120, service registration authority 138, and service provider 150 to authenticate billing (billing) information regarding document service requests. In that case, the print output is made to the gateway printer 120 in the conventional PDL format, and these outputs can be managed without being different from any conventional print request. Furthermore, because the size of the print job can be large, the print server and / or gateway printer can place a limit on the bandwidth that the gateway printer uses when transferring documents to the service provider. In one embodiment, the gateway printer can be configured by its administrator to set a “maximum throughput” for document service requests, avoiding interference with other requests that use available bandwidth in the user network 104. Can do.

  At 218, once a service request is sent to the service provider 150, the service provider 150 delivers the completed document service in a number of ways. The user can receive a digital document as output from the service provider in a format dependent on the requested service, including document conversion, rendering, or personalization, or a hard copy. In one embodiment, the service provider can return 218 a completed service request through the same channel that the document service request was made at (218).

  Alternatively, the completed service request can be sent on a channel that is not related to the document service request, such as e-mail, facsimile, regular mail, etc. (asynchronous). In another embodiment (not shown), the user workstation 112 can communicate with the service provider at 214, 216 and 218 simultaneously (such as when a user sends a print request). In this alternative embodiment, the user computer may be able to interact directly with the service provider 150, receive the results of the document service request, provide feedback, and / or provide additional input to complete the document service request. It can also be done.

  As shown by 212 and 218 in FIG. 2, the gateway printer 120 behaves as a proxy service for service requests and information requests to the service provider 150. The proxy function includes storing service provider information 128 from one or more service registration authorities 138 in a cache. Registration of available document services in the cache is static (eg, preset in the factory, thereby limiting the service registration authority to a single “product” service registration authority, eg, held by the product manufacturer) However, it may be dynamic (for example, through product registration). More specifically, regarding the role as the proxy server, the gateway printer 120 may execute the following. (A) The service registration authority 138 is inquired periodically at predetermined intervals to search for updated information regarding new or updated document services. (B) Storing service provider information in the memory 128 ensures bandwidth and reduces the waiting time that the user feels when accessing services and service information on the user network 104. (C) Control the bandwidth of data flowing through the document service request channel so that the document service request does not adversely affect other channels through the gateway.

  When the bandwidth is controlled by the gateway for the document service request made through the GUI 300 shown in FIG. 3, the gateway printer can be provided with the following filtering function. (A) A coarse filter that takes into account the basic priority setting of the service set by the system administrator for the local area network 104 of the user in which the gateway printer is installed. Filter services that are of interest to the user in the user network 104 community). (B) A fine-grained filter that identifies and detects the ability to provide higher performance supplemental or complementary services, taking into account the services provided to the users of the user network 104 and the usage patterns of the users (C) User input for queries performed at 308/310 for available services, and / or user input for request / change of service registration authority at 312 (eg, which document services to add, Filter by deletion etc.)

  In one embodiment, such filtering functions are performed using a recommender system. The recommender system identifies such items in advance on behalf of the user and then “recommends” these items for the user to pay attention to. These systems include Xerox's “Knowledge Pump” (Information Technology for Knowledge Management, Spring-Verlag, 1998, Borgoff, U. and P., p. Ed.). (See (Glance at al.)), The user “interest” expression is used to determine the relevance of information items to each user. In this embodiment, the recommender system may continuously check for new document services available at the service provider and solicit invitations for new or changed services at the document service provider. When the new service matches (even partially) with the user's interest expression, the user is notified in some way. For example, a new or changed service description (or a link to the description) is automatically sent to determine whether the service should be available on the gateway printer. Further, in the print request interface 312 shown in FIG. 3, the recommender system can solicit or the user can provide recommendation information. User recommendation information and / or service provider recommendation information determines whether the gateway printer should add or delete document services from the list of service provider information 128.

  In one embodiment, a client system (such as workstation 112) operated by a user can update service provider information 128 by requesting a change notification (via e-mail or the like) at 312 in FIG. On the other hand, it can always be kept up to date. In addition, the user can access service provider information in the cache 128 of the gateway printer 120 regarding the characteristics of available services that the gateway printer 120 has retrieved from various service providers 150 and / or various service registration authorities 138. . Also, service information that is not available in the gateway printer cache 128 can be requested, and once requested by a user of the user network 104, the service information can then be stored in the cache.

  In other embodiments, a user and / or system administrator may use a set of gateway printers 120 to centrally query specific types of document services that have recently become available to the gateway printer user. Intelligent filtering parameters can be defined. Alternatively, the gateway printer manufacturer's service registration authority (or any other service registration authority that communicates with the gateway printer) may provide an update mechanism that works with the gateway printer, thereby providing additional available Document service news and / or updates may also be provided automatically (with possible updates to the physical device itself). Such an update mechanism can control the updated content and the type and / or type of notification.

  In addition, the gateway printer 120 can act as a central billing mechanism for the requested service. For example, billing information for one or more services can be specified at 316 in the user interface 300 shown in FIG. Further, the gateway printer 120 can be provided with an additional cache at 128. The cache may be (a) a user-dedicated cache for recording the user's basic priority settings (desired charging mode, distribution channel, distribution format, etc.), or (b) a recent document service request output from the user. It can be a cache that can be viewed or configured (such a request can be a default or a predetermined “job ticket”). Typically, the size of the 128 additional caches that store the user's basic preference settings is smaller than the service provider information stored in the cache 128.

  In an alternative embodiment, bind interaction (ie, service description retrieval) and service request output are performed at 218 of FIG. In this alternative embodiment, bind interaction is not allowed at 206. Alternatively, whether the bind interaction is performed at 206, 212 or 218 depends on the type of document service request type. In one embodiment, the document service request is executed at 212 only after the user of the client device (such as workstation 112) has directly defined all the details of the gateway printer 120 and the document service request in advance. Does not require any interaction with 150.

The information exchange performed between the gateway printer 120 and the user workstation 112 in FIG. 2 can be performed using an XML format message based on a protocol such as SOAP. When a document service print request is output by the user workstation 112 to the gateway printer, the following points need to be considered. (A) Some suggested and / or requested services may require a document in a format other than a printer-specified format (eg, a page description language such as Postscript). (B) The document service account should follow the general print job account. (C) Ensure network bandwidth control since documents waiting to be printed (eg, PostScript) sent to the printer can use a large network bandwidth when sent.
D. Others It will be appreciated that the present invention provides several advantages for document service users, service providers and printer manufacturers. For the user, the gateway printer allows access to multiple document services through the interface of the print driver. That is, for a selected document, a user can access all document services provided by a remote service provider in a natural and integrated manner, such as when printing a document.

  More preferably, document service browsing and retrieval functions are incorporated into the print driver interface. In addition, service features and service-specific information can be used to quickly retrieve and acquire service characteristics using a two-level cache architecture. More preferably, in addition to the two-level cache architecture, the gateway printer can also behave as a service crawler that delivers notifications when new services appear that reflect the user's wishes.

  A further advantage relates to a user-specific service or a set of user-specific services that can be defined by the user. More specifically, preferably, the user can link and configure multiple services and send them as a batch processing service to the gateway printer and / or one or more service providers. In this way, the user can create a “virtual service” in accordance with his / her needs.

  When the manufacturer-issued digital certificate is embedded in the gateway printer, the manufacturer acts as a certificate authority, giving the user additional security assured by a third party separate from the service provider. If the digital certificate incorporated in the printer is static, it is difficult to perform a malicious tampering operation on the certificate.

  Since many web services provide service results asynchronously, users do not expect to receive results immediately. Therefore, considering the limitations that a network administrator can set to manage intranet bandwidth usage, the gateway printer is able to provide documentation for service providers without the user being aware of the performance impact. Bandwidth transmission can be easily controlled.

  Benefits for service providers include additional means of publishing services. Furthermore, by publishing the service through the printer manufacturer's service registration authority, the service provider does not need to specify a particular graphic user interface because it appears that the printer manufacturer has already specified through the printer driver. Also, the service provider is thus given a single access point for sending search results. Service requests to service providers can be made for most document service applications that use the print driver interface.

By managing a service registration authority and a database of registered users, the printer manufacturer can manage document services for users of the printing system. The printer manufacturer can thereby control the quality and / or availability of document services that can be registered with a service registration authority. For example, printer manufacturers can register services that meet certain performance and / or quality standards, or services that can achieve high performance in printers that perform document service requests. As an advantage for all parties, printer manufacturers can charge both users and service providers on a usage basis or on a usage basis. It will be appreciated that the usage-based system is more appropriate for individual users, while payment based on the amount of service used is more appropriate for service providers.

It is a figure which shows the operating environment for implementing this invention. 3 is a flowchart of operations executed when the gateway printer shown in FIG. 1 executes a print request for a document service in the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a user interface for accessing a document service that can be used from the gateway printer shown in FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

100 Operating environment 104 Local area network (user network)
106 Mobile device 108 User 112 User workstation 114 Multifunction device 116 Scanner 118 File server (print server)
120 Gateway Printer 122 Digital Certificate 124 Service Registration Authority Public Key 126 Electronic Document 128 Service Provider Information (Memory)
130 Gateway Function 134 Registration Authority Network 138 Service Registration Authority 140 Registered Printer Public Key (Memory)
141 Public key (memory) of registered service provider
144 Wide area network 146 Local area network (service provider network)
148 Public key (memory) of registered service registration organization
150 Service Provider 152 Registered Printer Public Key (Memory)
156 Certification Authority 300 Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Claims (3)

A first local area network to which a service registration authority is connected; a second local area network to which a service provider is connected; and a third local area network, wherein a user connects to the third local area network. A method for providing a document service to a user who operates a computer in a wide area network connecting a third local area network that operates the computer,
Connect the printer to the third local area network
When the printer is a trusted printer of the service registration authority, register the printer with the service registration authority,
Query the document registration service provider from the printer to the service registration authority to define a list of available service providers, including at least service providers on the second local area network,
Storing in the printer cache a list of available service providers, including at least service providers on the second local area network, along with details of available services;
Receive a print request specifying the document to be printed on the printer,
In response to a print request, the user is presented with a list of available services stored in the cache to supplement the print request,
The printer receives a print request to be executed on the specified document, supplemented by the service selected from the list of available services,
Executing the supplemented print request at the printer by communicating with a service provider on a second network providing the selected service.   The method of claim 1, wherein the service registration authority includes a certification authority that issues digital certificates to a service registration authority, a printer, and a service provider.   The method of claim 1, further comprising associating a service selected from the list of available services with another service selected from the list of available services.

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